Sri Lanka opts to field vs. Australia in 1st T20

The previous high score was by Sri Lanka against Kenya on September 14, 2007, in Johannesburg.

Sri Lanka were put to the sword by Glenn Maxwell as Australia claimed a comfortable Twenty20 global victory. Credit to him, he has worked hard. “Tonight was all Maxi”, said Warner.

The opener, who registered his maiden T20 century in his 35th game, found the flawless partner in Usman Khawaja, who scored 36 off 22 balls, as the duo put together 97 runs for the second wicket.

Travis Head (45) proved an able batting partner following the earlier dismissals of David Warner (28) and Usman Khawaja (36) – the pair combined for a 109-run partnership that saw the tourists make history.

Maxwell’s knock was the second highest individual innings in a Twenty20 worldwide, behind only Finch’s 156 against England in 2013.

“(I was) a little bit instinctive, tried to hit my areas based on the field. It was a knock that had “Glenn Maxwell” written all over it; unorthodox and hard-hitting.

“Nice to get an opportunity to bat at the top, slightly easier place to bat”.

“Aaron was hit on the right index finger when fielding a ball and x-rays have shown a fracture which means he will not be available for the remaining two T20 global matches”, said Beakley.

DineshChandimal (captain), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kusal Perera, Dananjaya de Silva, Chamara Kapugedara, Milinda Siriwardana, Kusal Mendis, Seekkuge Prasanna, Sachithra Senanayake, Suranga Lakmal, Thisara Perera, Sachith Pathirana, Kasun Rajitha, Dasun Shanaka.

The Australian cricketers’ run of injuries continue as Chris Lynn and Aaron Finch have been ruled out of the upcoming two-match T20 series against Sri Lanka due to their respective injuries.

Sri Lanka struggled to to make any headway in their daunting chase, despite the best efforts of Dinesh Chandimal (58), as Mitchell Starc (3-26) and Scott Boland (also 3-26) stifled the hosts, who fell to their heaviest T20I defeat.